🚫 OTAs Suck ✅ Building a Book Direct, Decentralized, Open-OTA ➜ 🚀 Operators Get Direct Bookings ✈️ Travelers Get Rewards for Booking Direct 💰 Anyone Who Refers Travelers Owns Them & the Revenue Stream They Generate.

🐥 I'm a startup founder, launching a direct booking travel platform for the AI agent era.

Why? Today, Online Travel Agent (OTA) commissions are draining 10's of billions of dollars out of the travel ecosystem. They enrich "Big Tech" and "Big Travel", at the expense of everyone else. I know because I helped them do it. For years I was a super-affiliate of Expedia and other big OTAs. I fed $100m+ in hotel bookings to the OTAs, generating $10m in commissions, but adding little of value to the ecosystem.

Now, I'm building a new travel distribution platform and protocol that enables travelers and their AI agents bypass the OTA middlemen and book direct.

👇 Want to be notified when we launch? Leave a comment in the featured post below titled "AI-powered community", or reach out and connect! 

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Previously...

🐣 I co-founded a venture studio. We launched 3 notable ventures:
 
1️⃣ 3Genius International. Network of travel booking websites. $100M+ in bookings and $10M+ in gross profit.

2️⃣ Moola.com. Multiplayer game. Grew virally to 450k community members, $7.6M economy. PCWorld's “Best Places to Waste Time on the Web”.
 
3️⃣ Locationary. Local data and community platform. Rewarded users for crowdsourcing local business data (eg. like for Apple Maps). $4.5M in funding. Acquired by Apple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🧠 Current Interests: AI, community, machine learning, travel, fintech, loyalty rewards, web3 / tokens / blockchain, creator & influencer economy, social commerce, marketplaces, network effects.

Arlen Ritchie

Onyx CenterSource

Driving collaboration and innovation in conjunction with internal and external stakeholders.

Product Manager

Very Good Security

I work with the Product Team to launch new SaaS products and define the correct metrics to track to assist in product growth. 
I work to implement and improve Product-Led Growth for existing products. 
I work closely with the data team to assure the data is correct and available for Insights to drive strategy.
Product manager for data, billing, and usage.

Product Operations Manager

Quadient

In this role I...
Lead a cross-functional US team for new product launches bringing millions of dollars in revenue
Prioritize the testing of specific features that provided a reduction in bottlenecks and lead the team to launch on schedule
Lead a program to replace over 3000 postal security devices, in the field, estimated at 1.5 Million Dollars – in just 9 months
Am the Cyber Security lead for mailing systems-related security issues. I have authored white papers, worked with customer security teams, and worked with R&D to improve the security of our products. 
Support field service and technical support (tier 3 support) and work closely with R&D to resolve issues.
Create launch documentation and training to effectively communicate new product features.

Principal Product Engineer

Neopost

Leader of a cross-functional team on product launches bringing millions of dollars in revenue. The products range from physical Mailing systems to SaaS-based products.
I Coordinate back-office activities to support product launch initiatives

Product Launch Coordinator

Lead on mailing launch activities – launching 3 different product lines
Product manager for LTE router for mailing systems generating over $70k in revenue
Lead on product security – authored white papers on security for mailing systems
I have worked with hundreds of customer security teams that translated into millions in sales
I was the Project manager leading a cross-functional team to update digital certificates on 160k systems in the field. This update was critical for USPS complaince.
Training development – leading to the remote training of hundreds of field techs
Testing and Quality development – leading to a 75% improvement in software quality

Senior Product Engineer

New Product testing – working with R&D on new products and features
Beta Test management  & reporting
Interfacing with customers regularly to improve features and products
Bug and customer issue identification & reporting
Field Communications & training

Product Engineer

Hasler Inc

Lead technician on projects involving new products
Coordinated field tests and acquired Beta test results for product improvement
Responsible for reviewing User and Service manuals for new products to assure correct content
Developed training manuals on technical procedures for non-technical departments (i.e. Customer Service)
Implemented training for other departments, which included over 30 non-technical personnel
Provided training for new Technical Support personnel
Responsible for the creation of installation instructions for various products in the field
Coordinated the shipment of diagnostic equipment to technicians in the field and analyzed the results and provided feedback through written reporting

Tech Support

Product | ProdOps | PLG | Data Driven | Lifelong learner

My journey has been long, and a little winding, but I have learned a few thing along the way. I did not choose the traditional path after high school, instead I joined the Army. There I learned much needed discipline and a hard work ethic. I never stopped learning though. I took classes when I had time available - and when my CO allowed it. Upon leaving the military I did not know what I was to do or where I would work. The Army treats you well and gives you a place to sleep and meals to eat. The thought of losing that stability was scary. However, my desire for learning and growth were greater. I left the Army to go back to college and that was exciting and tough! For many years I struggled working full time and going to school full time at night. However, after many sleepless nights from community college to University I finished my BA in Computer Science.

Eventually, I became a Product Engineer. I always wanted to be an engineer and I had finally achieved my goal! In retrospect, I think what I learned the most in this journey is to continue being a student. Keep learning new things and forget old habits. If you're not learning you're not growing. Once you think you know it all you are no longer valuable. It is better to have a growth mindset and feel not fully done then believe you are fully baked. Thus, I strive to get better and look for new abilities that make me indispensable.  

I have been a Principal Product Engineer, with 10+ years experience, within the Mailing System industry. I have extensive experience in product launches and managing projects with a different array of requirements. However, I am also versed in Cyber Security and how it impacted the products and the customers.  I collaborated with a cross-functional team of engineers, product managers, marketing managers, IT professionals, field service technicians, developers, and customers to release the highest quality products. 

My current role is a Product Operations Manager for VGS. In this role I work with the Product Team to launch new SaaS products and define the correct metrics to track to assist in product growth. Further, I work to improve Product Lead Growth for existing products. Lastly, I work closely with the data team to assure the data is correct and available for Insights to drive strategy. My philosophy is Data is a Product. As such, we should constantly improve the data and the analytics to improve product growth.

If you would like to know more about me and want to connect please send a direct message. You can also add me to your network.

Thank you,
Jose

taplio

The Battle

Arlen Ritchie

Jose Valle

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